Akhtar Mengal
| Sardar Akhtar Mengal | |
|---|---|
| سردار اختر مینگل | |
 | |
| Chief Minister of Balochistan | |
|
In office February 22, 1997 – June 15, 1998 | |
| Preceded by | Zulfikar Ali Magsi |
| Succeeded by | Jan Mohammad Jamali |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
6 October 1962 Balochistan |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Political party | Balochistan National Party |
| Religion | Muslim |
Akhtar Mengal (Urdu: سردار اختر مینگل) served as the Chief Minister of Balochistan, Pakistan from 22 February 1997 to 15 June 1998. He leads the Balochistan National Party (BNP), a provincial political party calling for equal rights of Balochistan through peaceful and democratic struggle.[1][2]
In 1997, the BNP was the largest party in Balochistan and Mengal was the chief minister. Mengal came to Pakistan after ending his self exile in Dubai on 25 March 2013 after four years to participate in 2013 election. The party only has two seats in the 51 member provincial assembly. One is Mengal's and the other is Hamal Kalmati, who represents Gwadar. Two candidates of the BNP, Esa Noori and Raouf Mengal, won national assembly seats from the Makran coastal region and Khuzdar, respectively. All the other candidates were defeated.[3][4]
Arrest and release
Akhtar Mengal was arrested in September 2006, along with around 700 other political workers, in a government crackdown in Balochistan. He was held because he was planning a long march against President Pervez Musharraf's military rule. He was brought to court in an "iron cage". Mengal was released on May 9, 2008 and all charges against him were dropped by the Government of Sindh. The Balochistan government withdrew all cases, including those of sedition, against Mengal, but the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) called the action a "cosmetic measure taken by a powerless provincial government".
The Balochistan National Party protested the delay in releasing Mengal when word of Mengal's release reached them. To express their pleasure, they distributed sweets. Addressing party workers, BNP's acting president Jahan Zeb Jamaldini and Secretary General Habib Jalib demanded the release of all detained political leaders and workers, an end to military operations in Balochistan, and the recovery of missing persons. They vowed that they would continue their fight against the feudal system. On 25 March 2013, Mengal returned to Pakistan from Dubai to take part in general elections on 11 May 2013.[5]